Writing Your Very First Blog Post: A Non-Writer’s Guide
Writing your very first blog post is the fun part according to The Blog Starter.
This is true for some, but obviously not for non-writers in the strictest sense.
At the same time, they know the value content brings to the table which is why they are adamant in building a blog.
But while they can outsource the writing to someone else, maybe they want to take up the challenge and sharpen their verbal skills at the same time.
If you find yourself in this position, you’re in luck because this post will share all the things non-writers must know before writing their first blog post.
Determine Your Topic
The assumption here is you have a good idea of what you want to write about for your very first blog post.
However, you want to make it count. After all, this will be the first thing visitors will see on your blog written by you.
Therefore, you may want to determine, or at least refine, your blog topic before anything else.
For instance, you have a fitness blog set up.
As it stands, fitness is a very broad subject – it would be next to impossible to write an article that covers everything there is to know about the topic.
Therefore, it’s best to break it down into smaller subtopics.
What about fitness that you want to discuss?
Better yet, what aspect of fitness are you knowledgeable about?
Digging deeper from there, could I break down the subtopic into even more granular topics?
More importantly, what do my potential readers need to know about the subtopic I want to tackle?
From here, you should have a handful of topics lined up for the next few weeks or so.
There are tools that can help you break down your topic, but I’d rather you use the method above for starters.
The last thing you want to happen is to get stuck with using tools and software that might prevent you from getting any job done.
Which brings us to the next point:
Just Write
My advice is to just write whatever’s in your mind about the blog topic.
At this point, don’t worry about grammar, spelling, and sentence construction.
Your focus is to write the blog post the best way you can a sentence at a time.
The goal is to grease the wheels by just paying attention to the act of writing.
Oftentimes, people are bogged down by the smallest details of writing that only discourages them from getting even a word out from them.
By doing it this way, you leave all inhibitions behind and just crank out words you feel describes what you’re thinking.
Expect the end product to be a very rough draft. Some of its parts may be very incoherent and have lots of errors.
The biggest takeaway from this is you actually got the hardest part of the job out of the way.
From here, it should relatively be smooth sailing from here on out.
Proofread and Edit
In this part of writing your very first blog post, tools will play a major part in the editing process.
Since you’re not a full-blown writer, there will be parts in your blog post that need rewriting for clarity or corrections.
However, that would be difficult especially if you’re not fully aware of the best writing practices.
For this purpose, there are two tools I would recommend: Hemingway and Grammarly.
The former is a web-based tool that helps you write concise and straight-to-the-point sentences similar to Ernest Hemingway’s prose.
Copy your blog post and paste it on the text bar. Hemingway will then identify the issues that need your attention.
Keep in mind that the issues it points out aren’t necessarily incorrect.
In fact, you don’t have to correct them if the current words and sentences are much better in conveying your ideas than the ones suggested by Hemingway.
But by editing them accordingly, you can make your blog post easier to read by your audience. By using basic terms and rewriting the sentences, you get to connect with more readers much better.
One thing that Hemingway doesn’t check is grammar.
In essence, using correct grammar shows your mastery of the language. This not only shows authority to readers, but also shows how well you present the topic to readers.
And to help you correct your grammar, use Grammarly.
It’s a Chrome extension (or Firefox add-on) that you can install and use from your browser. It identifies the errors that you must at least review, if not correct with just a click.
The good thing about this tool is it’s free. While you don’t have access to its premium features, the free version is good enough to whip your blog post to shape.
Just to reiterate, the tools above could shape up your writing and help you produce better blog posts moving forward.
However, the operative word here is “could.”
Tools in general are not answers to your problems. With Hemingway and Grammarly, they provide you with guides on how you could write your very first blog post.
That said, tools may not always be correct. There are words or phrases that it identifies as mistakes but really aren’t.
Ultimately, you need to practice due diligence when editing your blog post using both tools.
Take a Break
After hours of immersing yourself in the writing process and having edited your post, it’s time to take a step back and let your written work site first.
For non-writers, just getting an article finished is an achievement in itself.
However, the battle’s still not done yet.
You need to re-read your content another time to ensure that the information contained within is correct and accurate.
But to get there, you must take a break first and get your mind off what you just wrote.
The idea here is to allow your mind to freshen up before going deep into the weeds of your writing again.
Ideally, give yourself a day to let your mind rest completely before getting back up the saddle.
With a fresh perspective of things, you may see mistakes and errors that you weren’t able to see before.
Conclusion
There you have it – four simple steps for writing your very first blog post.
There’s nothing fancy about getting an article up and running before publishing it.
What’s important is to spill your ideas onto the page. From there, things’ll get easier as you edit and put the pieces together.
You’ll be surprised with yourself as you write the blog post without regard to anything!
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